Hi mikea, welcome to the forum and to the exclusive club that is myeloma, a club no-one wishes to join. Fortunately membership tends to last a lot longer than outdated internet articles suggest, so it’s probably a good idea to restrict your information finding to Myeloma UK, Healthtree Myeloma and the International Myeloma Foundation for now.
The results that you posted suggest to me (not a Dr, but an informed patient) that you have just tipped into what is known as Smoldering Myeloma, when the disease is at a low level that doesn’t yet require treatment. (In other words where the downsides of treatment outweigh the risks of not treating you). Sometimes patients can stay in this “Smoldering” category for years- I have contact with one patient who has for 18 years, although i think that’s exceptional.
The normal practice is to monitor Smoldering patients every few months to check that their myeloma is not progressing. Paraproteins (yours are 11g/l) can reach 30g/l before myeloma is considered active, unless any physical damage is being done, ie you have so called CRAB features, that is either high calcium levels in your blood, kidney (renal) damage, anaemia or bone lesions or fractures are evident. You need to become very aware of your body and to report suspicious pains just in case. Often before diagnosis myeloma patients have experienced pain which either they or their doctors have dismissed.
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had two other cancers. There are a significant number of myeloma patients who have had cancer before unfortunately. At your age (being under 60) you may be able to get genetic testing to see if there is a link between these cancers. This might be something to ask your haematologist when you have another appointment.
You will go on being tested regularly from now on, as all myeloma patients are. I hope you smolder for a long time! You won’t feel it at the moment, but it will be to your advantage that your myeloma has been caught at an early stage.
